Electric eels paralyze prey���using remote control

December 5, 2014 5:31 PM

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Electric eels have long been known to deliver low-voltage pulses as a form of natural sonar—but now researchers out of Vanderbilt University have discovered the eels also deliver high-voltage shocks, which they use to paralyze their prey—from a distance, with no physical contact—in just three milliseconds.

It's the first known case of an animal remotely controlling another via electricity, reports National Geographic. "Apparently, eels invented the Taser long before humans," biologist Kenneth Catania, who published his findings in Science, tells Reuters.